how to import stl files

kyle

how do you import stl files on onshape

kevin_o_toole_1

@ISPTUSA
Onshape now has native import of mesh files! You can import them like any other geometry from the either documents page or from within a document (help page).

Check out this video for more information about how to work with meshes in Onshape:

Improvements to Onshape - September 14th 2016 — Onshape

lougallo

@kyle Currently we do not import STL or any other polyhedrons at this point.  I have added you to the request.

Couvelights

I would also like the ability to import STL files...

timo_friedrich

I also need this feature, including scaling factor.

rbaek

timo_friedrich said:

I also need this feature, including scaling factor.

We can currently scale using the Transform->(Change type) Scale uniformly. Is there another scale feature you're looking for?

nkvoll

Is there any way to get notified when STL import is implemented?

andrew_troup

nkvoll said:

Is there any way to get notified when STL import is implemented?

Good question, and indeed there is. If you raise a feedback ticket from the ? menu in any Onshape CAD window, and make a request for STL import, the ticket will be updated when the capability is rolled out, and you will  indeed be notified.

I have the strong impression it is possible to change the notification options, including requesting email notification (rather than just a flag when logged into Onshape). However I cannot just now rediscover where that setting lives, so it's possible I have transplanted, in RAM, a recently discovered capability of another program onto OnS. Hopefully someone who knows will chime in.

andrew_troup

Andrew_Troup said:

nkvoll said:

Is there any way to get notified when STL import is implemented?

<snip>
I have the strong impression it is possible to change the notification options, including requesting email notification (rather than just a flag when logged into Onshape). However I cannot just now rediscover where that setting lives, so it's possible I have transplanted, in RAM, a recently discovered capability of another program onto OnS. Hopefully someone who knows will chime in.

OK, I now understand the situation better, or at least, I think I do!

As I suggested above, users are AUTOMATICALLY notified by email when a ticket is commented on by Onshape support, and of course this normally includes when a request is implemented. 

I was not imagining the opt-out email notifications mentioned in the quoted post above, but I had misunderstood the extent of their applicability. They are currently purely for forum comments and Personal Messaging, and for when people "write on your wall" (whatever and wherever that may be!)

The optional email notifications are reached by clicking on your username, whether at top right when in Forum mode, or at the heading of a post. Then click on "Preferences"

wayne_pettit

I would like to be added please to enable .stl or other CAD file import. Many thanks. 

aras

I would also like to get a notification when STL or other import formats becomes available. Thanks.

bill_osberg

Please add me to the list as well...

jeff_wooding

Please notify me as well when STL import is available!

allen_stewart

Please add me to the list.  

_Ðave_

+1 I also need STL import as model as well.

christopher_owens

I would like the ability to import STL files also! I get these from customers, created from their designs and would be great to "look them over" here! Can a STL be "reverse engineered" into a solid??

_Ðave_

+1 for STL >> Solid

christopher_owens

Plus...if I could make an STL of the customers part into a solid, support material could be added/modified here.

steina81

Please add me to the STL import list.

michael3424

Is Onshape the right tool to be editing STL files?  I recently got into 3D printing and found that many of the STL files available on the web could benefit from some editing, but that proved difficult to do in the 3D parametric CAD system I was using at the time (GeoMagic Design).  I'm wondering if such revisions aren't better done in a tool that is built to understand the meshes that make up STL files.  

Is that conjecture way off base?

robin_strand

I'd like to import STL files also.

ryan_blackwood

+1 for STL

Kevin_72

Another when-implemented STL import requester.  Thanks.

nestor_socas

 I've imported STL files today, they appear on the list, but can't see the image on screen!.  Anybody knows why?

nav

hi @nestor_socas STL is not a supported file by OS:
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/translation.htm

davor_vrkic

+1 for STL 

randy_es

I'd also like to import STL files. 

michael3424

If I understand it correctly, an STL file is comprised of a large number of very small meshes which approximate the surface of the object modeled.  Can such objects be easily and accurately edited with Onshape's tools as they exist today?  In my experience with Geomagic Design (a parametric 3D CAD program) STL files were nearly impossible to revise and I'm wondering if that is just the nature of the STL beast in a 3D MCAD world or a reflection of my poor 3D MCAD skills.

If the former is true, I'd prefer that Onshape programming resources be focused in other areas.

matt_d

I'd also like to import STLs. Please add me to the request list

timothy_perkins

I mostly am modeling with 3D printing being the end use of my designs, so .stl would be high on my wish list  

andrew_troup

STL is intended for outputting to 3D printers, and Onshape can do this currently.

It is not a format which would be particularly suitable for importing into an MCAD package.

The resulting model, even for relatively simple engineering componentry, would be a nightmare to work with: an absolute mass of surfaces, with terrible performance (both speed and accuracy) and no analytical geometry (true circles, arcs, ellipses, cones, cylinders etc) which could be extracted or even measured properly.

Those who have imported a complex STL file into Solidworks will probably recall just how frustrating and unproductive the result can be.

michael3424

andrew_troup said:

Those who have imported a complex STL file into Solidworks will probably recall just how frustrating and unproductive the result can be.

That was certainly my experience working with STLs from the maker community in GeoMagic Design.  In the end, it was easier to recreate the model from scratch in GMD than to work with the STL file.